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for the love of food, music, quilting and crochet

Monthly Archives: October 2018

In today’s world I don’t think there are many of us who prefer to do without soap. Even if we don’t bathe every day, at SOME point, we’re going to reach for a bar of soap to get washed up. Since we all must buy it at some point in time, why not save a few dollars along the way?

A while back I discovered that literally anyone can buy soap bases from online soap making supply stores. Really! They sell “melt and pour soap bases” that are literally what they say…you can melt them down, add whatever embellishments you want, pour them into a mold and allow them to harden back up. This is how many people sell “handmade” soaps online. It’s really easy AND you don’t even have to go through all the melting process. These bases are wonderful on their own and can simply be used just as they are. No embellishments needed!

These soap bases come in bulk bars, ranging from one pound increments up to 50 pounds. The varieties available are wide, ranging from clear soap base made with organic oils, olive oil, goat’s milk, honey, oatmeal, and much more. A typical bar of soap weighs four ounces, so a one pound bar will provide four bars of soap. My video (link below) shows just how simple it is to yield four bars of soap (or even eight small bars of hand soap) from a one pound block of soap base. These bases can be used just as they are. There is really no need to melt them down unless you truly want to add something to them. It’s not mandatory.

In the description box of the video, I have listed a number of online soap supply stores. I have no connection with any of them, so I am providing the list to help my viewers. If you want me to add a store to the list, please let me know and I’ll be happy to do so.

I have been buying and using soap bases for our bar soaps for years and have saved a good bit of money by doing this. I urge you to give it a try! Check out the video below.

I recently developed a bout of gingivitis in one area of my mouth where my teeth are crooked. I had been rinsing my mouth once a day with diluted hydrogen peroxide for a while, and I suspect that created an imbalance of microbes in my mouth that led to the inflamed gum problem. The issue flared up so that I couldn’t brush my teeth nor floss without extreme pain.

I tried using more diluted hydrogen peroxide rinses and that only seemed to aggravate the situation, making the problem worse. THEN, I realized that our bodies house a finely tuned balance of microbes…both good and not so friendly microorganisms. I realized that the balance was off, probably due to the hydrogen peroxide I had been using.

So, I experimented on myself and it worked! I stopped the peroxide rinses and turned to a little “germ warfare” of my own design. I took what probiotic capsules I had on hand (a 10 billion strength mixture of different strains of Lactobacillus bacteria), and started breaking open the capsules directly onto my tongue. My saliva moistened the powder and I did what I could to move it toward the inflamed gum area. I did this two or three times a day. By the morning of day 3, I was able to brush and floss my teeth without any pain. The redness had subsided. By the end of day 4, the redness had disappeared and my gums were returning to normal.

When doing natural therapies, it is important to monitor body signals as to when a therapy is enough and it’s time to stop. I found that four days of using probiotic capsules in my mouth was enough for my situation. On day 5, I noticed that my gum problem was pretty much gone, but my mouth and especially teeth started to feel exceptionally “clean”. Abnormally clean. I practice good oral hygiene and my mouth usually feels clean, but this was not a usual feeling…like it was “too” clean. So, I took that as my signal to discontinue the capsules. It was my sign that my body had enough of the probiotics in the mouth for the time being.

With that signal, I decided to allow the microbe population in my mouth to balance itself out and not interfere with the process. I continued brushing and flossing as usual, but did not do any oil pulling (as I usually do…once a day) until my mouth returned to normal.

Below are two videos where I discussed how I tackled this problem. If you’re suffering from gum issues, please do consider this approach. I believe this method addresses the problem at the core of the issue…an imbalance of microbes in our mouth. I hope this helps!

Want more celery for free? Don’t throw the end away after cutting off the stalks! Regrowing celery is very simple and a fun project for all, especially for children.

Simply remove the bottom end of a bunch of celery, cutting about one inch up from the bottom. Place the cut off piece, bottom side down, in a shallow tray with about 1/2 inch of water in it. Place the tray in a sunny location or under bright lights. It will begin to regrow from the center in very little time, usually ranging from overnight to up to two days.

After some time, your celery should sprout roots. With that, it will be very thirsty, so monitor the water level daily to be sure it doesn’t run dry. Also, wash the container now and then to prevent algae from growing, which would not be healthy for the plant.

After roots are established, many people will plant their new celery plant in their garden, allowing it to grow much larger. If you choose to keep it indoors and in water, it would be best to feed it with some plant food to support its growth. The celery can be harvested whenever you want.

It’s fun and rewarding to see food grow from a scrap item that would have been thrown away. This is a wonderful activity for children to help teach them where food comes from and hopefully inspire them to do a little gardening of their own sometime.

This is literally THE most effective fruit fly trap that I’ve tried. It’s simple to make and most people would have all the ingredients already on hand…water, sugar, vinegar, and liquid dish detergent. No need to cover it with plastic wrap. Just mix it up and place it near whatever is drawing the fruit flies and they will be attracted to this mixture.

After placing a few of these traps in my kitchen, dining room, and even bathroom (yep…we had them just about everywhere!), almost all the fruit flies were caught within a day or two. It was amazing! Give it a try.

Stir it all together and place the cup near whatever is attracting the fruit flies. Do not cover the cup with plastic wrap. Leave it open so the flies can easily make their way to the liquid. That’s it!